If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

It's not just snakes to look out for, with the Clinch releases this week so strong, I made a quick trip Tuesday night to one of my Smokey mountian after work holes to get a fix. On the way back I turned into Metcalf near dusk to take advantage of the bathroom facilities. I was talking to a gentleman and his wife about his fishing day when he said " Is that a coyote?". Not more than 20 yards from us working between the picnic tables like a bird dog on point was a good sized coyote about the size of a small thin german shepherd. Seeing one that close and not caring about us at all was kind of startling, he never looked at us and could have cared less. There wa a family in the next parking area so gave them a heads up and headed home. So now add coyotes to the snake, bear, falling limbs, too fast water, and crazy tourists list!

Does a fox count? I was fishing down by the church a few weeks ago and probably an hour before dark I heard a few Mallards start splashing around and quacking really loud so I looked over and there was a big orange fox that was coming down the side of the bank right toward them. I pulled my phone out thinking I was about to see something worth getting on video and the fox went behind a fallen tree and never came back out. There must have been a den behind it.

Here is a good coyote story that happened to me at night in Cades Cove a few years back. Imagine being surrounded by what sounded like a hundred Coyotes closing in on you at once and you will get the picture

I've been coming out of south Alabama swamp after dark when they get cranked up all around you in the dark. So close you can hear them in the leaves. First time is a little unsettling but after a second you realize there is no danger and having a high powered rifle helps ease the tension as well

For sure, but even without the rifle after being around all our critters for most of my life there is nothing to worry about. I'd worry more about getting sprayed by a skunk than any of the predators. And take every single predator over a run in with yellow jackets or bald faced hornets.

On snakes, when I lived in Alabama we would wade rivers for bass and the cottonmouths were numerous. It wasn't uncommon to see a dozen or more in a day. It gets unnerving late in the day when visibility goes down, but luckily none of us ever got bit. I respect the venomous snakes in the south, but am not afraid of them. I give them their space and watch where I put vulnerable body parts while out and about